The study findings act as the poster child for “Consumer Beware alerts” because not only can the products trigger a worsening of ongoing skin conditions, but these products are often many more times expensive than personal care products not labeled, “hypoallergenic”. With labels that cannot be trusted and marketing strategies that play on consumer ignorance about the ingredients products contain, the largely unregulated industry of personal care products has left U.S. consumers twisting in the wind.

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“This study confirms for us that consumers can’t tell which products don’t have this risk [of triggering allergic reactions] by looking for terms like hypoallergenic or fragrance free.”

-Dr. Matthew Zirwas

Background:

Researchers asked Amazon, Target and Walmart to name their top 100 best-selling whole-body moisturizers sold online. Then the researchers assessed how well these popular products moisturized the skin, whether or not their ingredients might trigger allergic reactions and how much they cost.

Here is an overview of the study findings recently published in the American Medical Association’s Journal (JAMA) Dermatology:

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Moisturizers labeled ‘hypoallergenic’ may

still have toxic chemicals*

Findings:

–Only 12 percent, of the 174 individual products tested were free of allergens

-Many of the moisturizers contained fragrances and chemicals known as parabensand tocopherol, all of which can cause rashes and worsen skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis.

-Products marketed to appeal to people with skin problems like eczema and psoriasis tended to cost more, even though they didn’t necessarily avoid ingredients that could make these conditions worse…Half of the products labeled “dermatologist recommended” cost at least 79 cents an ounce, while moisturizers without that description were typically 59 cents an ounce